Zines, Journals, Blogs and such

I understand the need for students to be literate in this country is in high demand.  Art has never been a great chance for students to pick up a book and read, unless they really enjoy art history, and even then it may just be for a class.  The overall goal of literacy advocacy is not that students read subject based readings only but to really except the fact that reading can be enjoyable, therapeutic, and beneficial in their lives.  I believe that during Art class students can find a passion, or a love for a certain media, style, or form and by promoting journals, teachers can encourage continued growth in the knowledge or love for one of the said groups.  By having students journal at length about what they enjoy, the students is delving into their own mind and thinking about not just what was visually stimulating but almost about what they have read about and have retained in their noggins as well as what they may want to know.
The same thing can be said for Zines, Blogs, and any other method of critical thinking about an issue.  Zines provide a way to advocate for an issue t he students feels strongly about, and through reading other peoples Zines students are captivated by not only the imagery provided but by the message given.  Zines are a wonderful way to get an issue across to the generations that seem to have their eye balls adhered to the television set, constantly being bombarded with imagery and music that promotes the opposite of what schools are attempting to get across.  When choosing between watching television and going to school nine out of ten times, my guess is a students would rather watch TV.  As teachers we will need to by pass this notion of school being boring and therefore not worth a students time and really force ourselves to look at how can we make learning as interesting as Jersey Shore, or any other disturbingly useless show.
Blogs may be our answer, the fact that blogs are on the world wide web is just one step closer to bridging the gap that exists between school and the students' entertainment need factor.  A blog promotes ownership of ones morals and ideas on issues that are important to them making blogs more than a simple assignment that the student can recite what was given in class and truly delve into something more meaningful than the regurgitation of data.
All these things can promote literacy, but it is through the enjoyment of reading that students will truly understand and value the written language.  It is not about forcing students to read against their will, but rather getting them to the point where the student can look at a book and a television set and not just judge off the immediate satisfaction of pictures on a screen but look at a book as a more valued source of entertainment.  By "book" I do not mean a Tome but it can be, and it can by a graphic novel, or a short play if the students prefers  it's about the students after all and should the student not choose what he or she likes?

ch 17 & 18

I found the chapters to be continually informative and entertaining.  Being that Veterans day was not too long ago I found the Fallen Heros project from chapter 17 to be of interest.  I liked the way it is both educational for the students and it can serve as a service project for the community as well.  Being patriotic and thankfull for those who protect our freedoms we take for granted.  I feel many students in the younger generation do no fully understand or appreciate what they have.  This project is a great way to show them the cost of freedom and why they should be thankfull that they do not have to fight to defend the country because someone else is.
I also liked the rights of child labor project from chapter 18.  Child labor wasn't terrible when I was growing up and I feel my parents bribed us more than demanded we do something.  Me and my brothers milked cows, picked rock, bailed hay, shoveled waste, and did all sorts of things before and after the school day.  We were payed a couple bucks an hour and we didn't mind.  Thinking about it, should we have been participating in the joyfulness of our youth, probably, but the work had to be done and I would rather do it rather than have my mother or father do it.  Child labor to me is more like families sending their children to factories rather than schools to provide for the family.  I think the collage is a great idea, but it seemed too easy.

Midland

I'm looking forward to teaching students from a very small school district.  I don't think the high school I went to was terribly small, but when listening to the class sizes of many of my peers it seems my class size was small.  I am not scared of the class but excited.  I believe that having less students in a class gives more time for students to understand the material.  Having less students allows us at midland to provide more individual attention and I think will give us results on their comics that will prove very in depth and well done.  I look forward to working with the students and Kellie!!

ATCs

I really enjoyed making the artist trading card this week.  I've always enjoyed collage and making things that are out of the ordinary cannon in art.  The cards are a great way to express issues and bridge gaps, like us trading with middle school students based off popular issues in middle school.  I had a lot of fun thinking back o my ruffian days on the block and think that the experiences I had in middle school are universal to all students going through middle school.

I also enjoyed the field trip to Iowa City with the Hoover students.  The comic book convention was entertaining, but I took more out of the experience then comic books.  It was a great experience to be around students and see how management and structure works in a class of thirty or so middle school students.  It was a wonderful day and the students were well behaved.

To Teach...Post 5

The final half of To Teach a Journey in Comics presents very critical issues to think about for preservice learners like ourselves. Chapters six and seven stuck out the most in my mind, mostly because I have been contemplating at long length the ethics and morals of standardizing education when we are to be creative and think outside the box.  Chapter five does a great job of explaining the problem with teachers simply teaching to the curriculum and standards presented by the higher ups, but chapter six shows us why standardized tests are bogus and full of buffoonery.  Some tests are bias towards one group that is raised one way and taught one way and that is seen as the "standard".  Is it morally right to subject all students to the exact same test that puts them up against other students in school hundreds of miles away and the better the school does the more money they get?   Which just shouldn't happen.  Why pay schools for doing well?  I understand it is the carrot on the end of the stick, but shouldn't we be providing better funding for those schools that are doing poorly instead of counting them as a loss?
Chapter seven shows us that schools can break away from the monotonic scheduling and style of most standard schools today where the students sit in a desk and more or less throw up information that is drilled into their heads. Even if we are to follow standards and look to Blooms, create is at the top of the pyramid and regurgitating information is at the dead bottom of the pile.  Some teachers can BS and say they are having their students be more in depth in the learning process but what they are selling I am not buying and belief in the students ability and the students drive to learn is achieved only by instilling a sense of purpose within the student.  Some students are driven by the goal to achieve a higher education but many students could care less, so connecting with those students on a multiplicity of levels allows for all students to find that purpose to learn.

Transformative Studies in Curriculum

After reading the chapters I began to think about how when I was in high school we had few experiences that match either the wetlands project or the Eco-Wall.  I realized I missed out on a lot of interesting opportunities to connect with the community and the environment I took advantage of.  The projects listed in the chapters allow students to connect with the mentors in the community as well as opening their eyes to environmental issues like pollution.

The Transformative Qualities Diagram in our hand out ties into chapter 11’s through the global citizens loop that leads into transforming students and teachers into better community citizens.  Connecting with are experts in the field of environmental health and sustainability it helps students to open their eyes to problems in their world and that there are people who strive to fix their environment.

Chapter 13 can tie to the diagram in many ways.  The project also ties to the global citizen area because the older, high school students are able to work with the young students, providing leadership opportunities which allows the diagram to be bridged to the leadership, collaboration, and advocacy area.   What I like best about chapter 13 is the ability to allow students to connect their own lives with the world around them and show that their lives can parallel to someone else’s or even some of the creatures and habitats that reside in the surrounding area.  I believe that connecting to the larger picture in all areas of the curriculum is important in providing students with a deeper understanding of the information.

Chapter thirteen has a great section of reflection, mainly on how the schools are not meeting the proper standards our at-risk students need in order to provide the proper scaffolding they need to make the connections to the material being taught.  Empathy is the cure for this particular situation.

Chapter 6 and 8 reflections

Service learning seems like the main theme to the chapters.  Service learning is different from community service because while community service may be to the betterment of the community, be it small or large, it has little tether to the curriculum.  Service learning however is doing service with your students while adhering to the curriculum set forth.  In chapter six we meet a group of grad students in Art Education at Ohio State University working on creating awareness on an area around their campus called Weinland Park.  The students go into the community and highlight the positive aspects of the area then work with the locals in creation of community art that promotes Weinland Park.  The area use to be the location of much of the housing for the University but as years past the University and the slum lords responsible for the care taking of the area lost interest and gradually the area became a slum, or a negative assumption in the mind of the University.  The students created awareness through understanding the hardships and misconceptions of the people living in the area.  Because most of the residence of the area are of the younger generations the students worked on showing that Weinland park holds a large percentage of the future.  I believe the students meant well and at least they are trying to bridge the gaps between social classes but is it worth promoting a run down district without connecting it with the rest of the community and working on the rest of the community just as much as Weinland park?  Both sides of the line must be impacted in order to create understanding and finality.

Chapter eight was an interesting chapter to read just for the service projects in the chapter.  My favorite was the Facing Hunger: Empty Bowls project.  I simply am entertained by the idea that students could create these artifacts that would have such an impact on the buyers mind.  The buyer would get soup in his or her bowl and take the bowl as a reminder of their kindness and that some people are less fortunate.  The chapter describes a lot of examples of service learning and community based art education projects.  All the projects deal with one aspect or another of poverty, whether the people can not afford food, or if they do not have clean drinking water.  Poverty is a major issue in the world, especially when most people in the world can't even afford a well rounded meal a day, or they have to boil water just for eating or drinking.  I believe the projects describe in this chapter are very amiable and that money would need to be fundraiser in order for these projects to get started.  I think students would be much more attached to these lesson/projects because they have a deeper meaning to the students.  Helping others is the greatest and most selfless act one can do and the thrill and feelings you recieve from it are unimaginable.

Barefoot Gen Response

Barefoot Gen is the story of a boy named Gen who lived in Hiroshima during the second world war.  The graphic novel is read much like any anime comic, from left panel to right panel, then down.  The story follows Gen through the days leafing up to the attack on Hiroshima.  throughout the story you become closer to the characters, especially the younger brother and the pregnant mother.  The universal theme of family plays a huge role in the connections perceived by the reader.  The family could've easily been of any ethnicity, with the way they stuck together as a family and exemplified universal qualities of a family.  The novel may not be appropriate to some high school students, there is nudity in a portion of the story when Eiko is be charged with theft.  The story would connect with students who have lost loved ones, primarily during times of war.  The story would also help to show the other side of World War Two's havoc on the world and not show the United States as the sole bearer of pain and grief.  This is my second time reading the novel and anyone would take pity and sympathize with someone like Gen who had to endear so much at such a young age.  He had to grow up fast when his family was burned to death leaving his mother and unborn sister to his care.  Students reading the story may see someone their age who has lived more then they, or has dealt with things beyond comprehension in hopes to empower them.

Social Justice...what's it mean!!

As a future educator of art Social Justice confuses me slightly.  Students are the future leaders of this world and by showing them that the morals, ideas, and background they have may not be shared by everybody in the world their own age.  By opening the students minds to thoughts and ideas of people from a different mindset or culture in a positive and constructive manner, not using negative connotations, students will be more involved and open in their work.  For example,  a white, male, middle class, sub-urbanized student from Cedar Falls, IA would have a totally different perspective on what life is when compared to an impoverished, female, and Hispanic student from Argentina. One students was raised in the society of the United States and follows the social guidelines instilled in him from years of living among those who have the same beliefs and social background.  The girl from Argentina may not have even been born in the United States, her parents may not even speak English.  Her social background, heritage, beliefs, and overall way of life would be greatly different.
If I had both these students in my class it would be important to not segregate one's beliefs or heritage.  Art can be a way to bridge the gaps between students and connect students' minds with the overall idea of social justice, that we are all the same at one level or another, we are all here on this planet together.  This must be considered when making the curriculum.  Students from all over will be thrown at me and if I am unprepared it is my fault and I refuse to allow myself to not be prepared for such an issue.  I believe it is important that students learn about each other as well as themselves.  Determining one's self is as important as accepting others who are different and through art students can be connected and share a common goal, thus opening the doors of communication.

First ever bloggle!!

My friends, colleges, and all the rest of you fine people!  This is my very first blog post, EVER!  however exciting that may be it is still a little hard to figure out what I wish to write about.  You may say "Justin!!, it's your first post.  There must be something on your mind!"  Well, there is one thing that has been troubling me over these past few weeks.  I do not wish to leave school.  I find the atmosphere, the people, and the smells to my liking and I fear the outside world.  Here in this place we call the studio I can talk openly and freely with others who share the same passion as I do.  Over the past five years I have come to know and enjoy my peers and take their advice and knowledge to heart.  I am scared to leave and that is what I shall blog about for now.  Till tomorrow.